Just Another
by MercuryPilgrim
Summary: Just another chase, just another hunter. But she hadn't thought they would send the best. 'As she readied her kunai to be thrown with pin point accuracy into the ninjas neck, he looked up and straight into her eyes. She gasped. "Hello Sakura."'


_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliates. Anything that you recognise is property of its respective owners. Any relations to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

_Base/s:_ Naruto

_Title:_ Just Another

_Summary: _Just another chase, just another hunter. Just another missing-nin. But she hadn't thought they would send the best.

_Music used for inspiration:_ Dance with the Devil – Breaking Benjamin, Numb – Linkin Park, - Muridke Boy – Ali Kamboh, Savin' Me - Nickelback

* * *

Sakura Haruno ran. Her legs were seizing up and her lungs burned but she let the world flash by as she jumped from tree to tree. Her hair, wrapped up in a hood, was coming free of its confines. Her clothes, well worn and dark were coated with splashes of mud and tiny flecks of blood. She launched herself off a particularly tall tree and freefell before landing in a crouch on the woodland floor. Her mind attempted to drift back into memories of the Forest of Death but she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

She was just so _tired_. So weary of running, of looking over her shoulder and jumping at the slightest noise. But she would slow down, not now. Not ever.

Having caught her breath slightly, she jumped up to a tree and buried herself in the leaves. Perfectly hidden, her clothing blended her in with the shadowed forest. She calmed her breathing and suppressed her chakra as best she could. She wasn't sure who was after her, only that they did not fucking give up. Five hours of constant pursuit and she was on her last legs. Again. She was just going through the motions now, another hunter-nin who got the job of tracking her down and if possible, eliminating her. There had been many, to start off with, but over the years their numbers had dwindled and the many unskilled were replaced with the few well trained. She would take the many unskilled any day.

She readied a kunai and her hands twitched in preparation of making seals.

Whoever they had sent must be good. Few managed to stay on her tail for this long and still be going strong.

Her head darted to the direction she had just come from. Sure enough, a figure walked casually into her line of sight. His head was bowed and his face thrown into shadow by the lingering night the rising sun had not managed to drive away yet.

Something caught in her throat. The ninja was tall and blonde. His clothing was not regulation, not by any stretch of the imagination. The hair colour ruled out most of the high classed ninja she knew of, but then again, after having left the village so long ago, it wasn't surprising she wouldn't recognise a new face. And yet, it made her sad. She knew why.

She ninja was careless, she noted, that or extremely arrogant. His body wasn't even tensed to fight. A shame, she thought, after that chase she was hoping for a bit more. And he hadn't even noticed her presence. What a fool.

She readied her kunai to be thrown with pin point accuracy into the ninjas neck, he looked up and straight into her eyes. She gasped.

"Hello Sakura."

She could do nothing as he stared up at her. His face was set in stone and no expression save slight disappointment graced his face. His blue eyes, so bright and piercing were locked with her own.

So he was here. They had finally gotten tired of receiving bodies that were not hers and had sent their very best. The Bloody Wind of Konoha.

"Hello Naruto."

He gave her a smile. It wasn't like the ones he used to give back when she remembered him, it was small and reserved with that underlying sadness that didn't match up to her picture of her friend.

"How have you been these past years?"

He was making small talk. Delaying the inevitable. She almost wished he wouldn't.

"As well as can be. You?"

The smile became strained.

"The same."

A lie. And they both knew it.

"I see."

Neither of them moved. The wind rustled the trees and like a cliché, blew leaves across their lines of vision.

"You're here to kill me aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Why else would I be here?"

That hurt. She knew it had no right to, because when had she thought of him when she abandoned her village to be with the boy she thought she loved? When she had left that night with him had she ever thought about how it would affect her teammate? Of course she hadn't.

"What happened? To everyone?"

She had to ask. Information was hard to come by outside of the village.

He gave her a look, one which she couldn't quite decipher.

"Hinata is dead. So are Ino, Chouji and Lee. Neji is captain of the ANBU, and Kakashi was discharged on medical grounds over a year ago. Jiraiya and Tsunade and both dead."

An electric feeling ran through her veins when she heard his report, delivered with cold, clinical detachment. It couldn't be. She had known about the passing of Tsunade and Jiraiya, two Sannin being cut down did not escape notice. But the others? Her friends? Her best friend? She had foolishly thought everything would be the same in her absence, that things would just carry on as normal. How wrong she had been.

He carried on.

"Konoha is allied with Suna."

She knew of that as well. Just as infamous as 'The Bloody Wind of Konoha' was the 'Red Devil' of Suna. Otherwise known as its Kazekage, one Gaara no Sabaku. The last of the Sabaku siblings. When his brother and sister had been found, mutilated and with a message, his wrath had been swift and terrible. Stories were told of that bloody night. He ruled with an iron fist, and his people loved him for it. When the alliance was formed between the two of the most militarily powerful Shinobi nations, people feared the destruction the two could reign together. And reign they did. The two were an unstoppable team on the battlefield. One specialising in long range, the other in short. They had each others backs.

"And I am Hokage."

She actually smiled at that.

"Finally achieved your dream then?" she asked, still smiling. She blinked when his disappeared.

"Dreams are for those who are too weak to accept what reality gives them. _This_ was not what I dreamed of." His voice had a thin layer of disgust to it.

She swallowed. It wasn't supposed to be like this. But it was, and not she had to deal with it.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"For not thinking of you."

"Why would you have? It doesn't matter now."

It was true. She wished with all her heart that she had stayed. That something, _anything_ had stopped her from walking away with Sasuke. But nothing had and now she was here. With a scar on her soul and a scuffed and pitted Hitai-ate.

She dared to look at him again, he was regarding her calmly. Utterly confident in his power and it's supremacy over her own. That wasn't Naruto down there, that wasn't her friend. She said as much.

"You're right. I'm not that boy, I'm not the Naruto you knew. And I'm most certainly not your friend."

She felt wetness on her muddied cheeks.

"It's my fault isn't it?"

"Of course it is. Without you," he trailed off and let his eyes wander from her face. "There was nobody left. Kakashi went after you two you know."

She did know. Oh how she knew.

"You know what happened. After all, you were there." His voice wasn't accusing and that was what had made her wince. "The others, well I was never as close to them as I was to you two was I?" She was beginning to feel stiff, the kunai lowered but her hand was clamped around it so hard her knuckles stung and turned white. "I had to get you back. So I worked hard, harder than ever. I only had one goal, I wanted to bring you and Sasuke back so everything could go back to how it was. But, we both know how that went."

There was a lump in her throat and it hurt to swallow.

"My skills were apparently better utilised elsewhere. So, as I'm sure you know, I was assigned to one of the hunter squads."

She knew about that. Who didn't? It was how the Bloody Wind of Konoha got his reputation. Dogged and unyielding. A man who would not fucking stop until his mission was completed, one way or the other. Not cruel, not heartless, but devoted. The best hunter in Konoha and the least feared. Unless you were his target.

"And now I'm here."

"On your last hunt."

"Far from it. I don't do well with desk jobs."

A hint of the old Naruto was present in his vaguely sheepish smile and her heart broke. Part of her felt cheated that he didn't deem her special anymore, that she was going to be just one more in a long line of numbers. But he was the Hokage, not every A-class missing-nin was found by him. They stared in silence for a few moments.

"Can I at least tell you why?"

"If that is what you wish. Although it will not change anything."

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

"I thought I loved him."

"I know."

"All I wanted was to be with the boy I thought I loved. My _friend. _But I had more than one friend didn't I? I just didn't think. I _am_ sorry."

He looked at her and she felt almost naked under his gaze. The wind blew harder and strand of pink hair escaped from under her hood.

"Perhaps you are. To be perfectly honest Sakura, you left a long time ago. Those that are left have moved on. I'm sorry to say that there are more important things now."

So there it was. She had been left behind. A vague nagging hurt in the back of people's minds; only to be thought of every so often. What did she have now? Sasuke was probably dead. She hadn't heard from him in years and she had no wish to. She would have asked, but she preferred ignorance. Konoha had all but forgotten her and she was nothing more than just another missing-nin who would be cut down in some nameless forest.

She'd made her bed, now she had to lie in it.

"I won't go without a fight."

He smiled. It was sad.

"I know. You wouldn't be Sakura if you didn't."

She wasn't who she had been, she knew that. Neither was he, the world had caught up with them and trapped them in its net. Reality had left its mark.

She brought her kunai up once again.

As she lay, gasping on the leafy floor of the nameless wood, she recalled her thoughts on the hunter who had followed her. Arrogant, no. Neither was he foolish. He was just Naruto and he had passed her. He had passed them all a long time ago. He stood over her and looked down, she looked back with hazy defiance.

He sighed and squatted down next to her. He prized the kunai from her grip and threw it to one side carelessly. She coughed and blood splattered from her mouth. She felt his hand, warm, on her face and she leaned into the touch.

"I'm glad it was you." She said struggling with the words.

He didn't respond, just looked at her. His rough hand was so _warm_. It had been so long since she had felt any sort of kind touch.

"It's too late for wishes and if onlys isn't it?"

He gave a little smile at her words and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. She almost closed her eyes.

"I would think so." He replied.

"You know what I would have said anyway."

He nodded. Although she was so very weak, she raised a hand and it searched for his other. He allowed her to grasp it, although he didn't squeeze back.

"I'm sorry." She said again, looking up at him through wet lashes. He wasn't even scratched. He hadn't played with her or prolonged the fight. His movements were swift and precise, even if you couldn't call them graceful.

"I'm not." He said.

She smiled, her lips stained red and tears, so long unshed, rolled down her cheeks and wet his hand.

"Good. See you Naruto."

She felt him squeeze her hand briefly before letting go. Her vision was gone and her hearing was almost shot too. Her eyes were still open as far as she knew although her vision was black. She felt heavy. Tired and heavy.

"Bye Sakura."

Her muscles relaxed and her head lolled to the side. He removed his hand from her cheek and shut her eyes. It was more than he did for most. He stood up and with one last brief, dispassionate look behind him, the Bloody Wind of Konoha, Sixth Hokage and Kyuubi container, Naruto Uzumaki turned his back and left. He didn't look back.

She had left them in much the same way. What did it matter? What was done was done. He jumped and landed on a thick branch. Just another stain in the memories of those who had lived through everything. There were more important things to worry about. She had died long before he had dealt the final blow.

Just another missing-nin.


End file.
